UPDATED: Released Dapchi Schoolgirls Now 101 – Presidency

101 out of 110 schoolgirls kidnapped from the Government Girls Science Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe state, have been released by their abductors, the Presidency says.

Confirmed number has now risen to 101 #DapchiBriefing #DapchiGirlsAreBack https://t.co/f6EeCHekB3

— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) March 21, 2018

Recall that the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, told newsmen earlier that 76 of the kidnapped girls have been confirmed released.

“The directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to all security agencies to do everything possible to secure the release of the Dapchi schoolgirls, who were abducted 19 Feb. 2018, has yielded fruits, with the confirmed release of 76 of the 110 abducted students in the early hours of Wednesday,” the minister told State House Correspondents.

Mohammed said the 76 are those who have been documented so far, adding that the release of the abducted students is ongoing.

He said the girls were released around 3 a.m. through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and that it was unconditional.

“For the release to work, the government had a clear understanding that violence and confrontation would not be the way out as it could endanger the lives of the girls, hence a non-violent approach was the preferred option.

“Within the period when the girls were being brought back, operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost,” Mohammed said.

The minister added that the number of the freed girls would be updated after the remaining ones have been documented, especially because the girls were not handed over to anyone but dropped off in Dapchi.

The insurgents were said to have arrived the town with the girls in the early hours of Wednesday in 9 vehicles.

“Boko Haram just returned the kidnapped girls this morning. They brought them back in the same set of vehicles which they used in conveying them last month,” a resident said.

“People are scared because they do not know what the insurgents are up to.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Trust reports that five of the abducted schoolgirls died, while one of them was still under captivity.

One of the abducted schoolgirls, Maryam Yerima, who spoke to the newspaper, said the five schoolgirls died from congestion, the day they were abducted.

Yerima said there was no serious feeding but they were not harassed or molested by the insurgents.

“We were fed with dates and wild fruits. Five of us died, while one Christian girls was still in captivity for refusing to denounced her faith,” she said.

“They asked us to strip our school uniforms and they provided us with this yellow hijab. We spent five days on transit before arriving here.”